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Japanese invasion of China
On December 12, 1937 the Government and people of the United States were deeply shocked by the news of the bombing and destruction by Japanese aircraft of the United States gunboat Panay and three United States merchant vessels on the Yangtze River in China. The bombing and machine-gunning of the crews and passengers resulted in loss of life to citizens of the United States. -
The Rape of Nanking
During the Sino-Japanese War, Nanking, the capital of China, falls to Japanese forces. Japanese General Matsui Iwane ordered that the city of Nanking be destroyed. Much of the city was burned and Japanese troops launched a campaign of atrocities against civilians. Rape of Nanking the Japanese butchered an estimated 150,000 male massacred an additional 50,000 male civilians, and raped at least 20,000 women and girls of all ages, many of whom were mutilated or killed in the process. -
German Blitzkreig
Blitzkrieg is a military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces. The blitzkrieg was used by German commander Erwin Rommel during the North African campaign of World War II, and adopted by U.S. General George Patton for his army’s European operations. -
Germanys invasion of Poland
The invasion began on September 1, 1939, one week after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and ended October 6, 1939. It is that important because Poland was first country that decided to defend its borders. -
Fall of Paris
Winston Churchill had tried for days to convince the French government to hang on, not to sue for peace, that America would enter the war and come to its aid. Roosevelt replied that the United States was prepared to send material aid. -
Operation Barbossa
On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. The invasion covered a front from the North Cape to the Black Sea, a distance of two thousand miles.Barbarossa was the crucial turning point in World War II, for its failure forced Nazi Germany to fight a two-front war against a coalition possessing immensely superior resources. -
Pearl Harbor
Japan launches a surprise attack on the United States Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Japanese dropped bombs on the naval base and civilians homes and schools. In this attack nearly 200 planes were destroyed along with three battle ships and three cruisers. This day was noted as a day of infamy. -
The Wannsee Conference
Heydrich met with Adolf Eichmann, chief of the Central Office of Jewish Emigration, and 15 other officials from various Nazi ministries and organizations at Wannsee, a suburb of Berlin. It was meant to devise a plan that would render a “final solution to the Jewish question” in Europe. Gruesome proposals were discussed, including mass sterilization and deportation to the island of Madagascar. -
Battle of Midway
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II. United States was able to preempt and counter Japan’s planned ambush of its few remaining aircraft carriers, inflicting permanent damage on the Japanese Navy. Unlike the attack of Pearl Harbor the US was prepared. This was important turning point in the Pacific campaign. -
Operation Gomorrah
British bombers raid Hamburg, Germany, called Operation Gomorrah. The evening of July 24 saw British aircraft drop 2,300 tons of incendiary bombs on Hamburg in just a few hours. Britain lost only 12 aircraft in this raid of 791 that flew, thanks to the new radar jamming device they used.British attacks on Hamburg continued until November of that year. -
Allies invade intoI Italy
On the day of the landing the Italian government secretly agreed to the allies terms for surrender, but no public announcement was made until September 8. Allies began their invasion of Axis-controlled Europe with landings on the island of Sicily, off mainland Italy. Within three days 150,000 allied troops were ashore. On August 17 Patton arrived in Messina before Montgomery, completing the Allied conquest of Sicily and winning the so called race to Messina. -
D-Day
Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning,156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. -
Battle of the Bulge
Germans launch the last major offensive of the war, the Battle of the Bulge, an attempt to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. Germans created a “bulge” around the area of the Ardennes forest. Their assault came in early morning at the weakest part of the Allied line, an 80-mile poorly protected stretch of hilly, woody forest. -
Liberation of concentration camps
On July 23, 1944, they entered the Majdanek camp in Poland, and later overran several other killing centers.They entered Auschwitz and there found hundreds of sick and exhausted prisoners. The Germans had been forced to leave these prisoners behind in their hasty retreat from the camp. Also left behind were victims' belongings: 348,820 men's suits, 836,255 women's coats, and tens of thousands of pairs of shoes. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima was defended by roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops and they fought from an elaborate network of dugouts and tunnels. invasion of Iwo Jima, was roughly 575 miles from the Japanese coast. The battle was marked by changes in Japanese defense tactics–troops no longer defended at the beach line but rather concentrated inland,except for 1,083 prisoners the entire garrison was wiped out. -
Battle of Okinawa
Okinawa was the last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa involved the 287,000 troops, by the end of the 82 day campaign Japan had lost more than 77,000 soldiers and the allies had suffered more than 65,000. Japanese forces changed their typical tactics of resisting at the water’s edge to a defense in depth, it was designed to gain time. -
Operation Thunderclap
The plan was to have a massive attack on Berlin. It was an attack that was planned but cancelled in August 1944 and was never started. The plan was reconsidered in early 1945, to be started with a Soviet advance, but was again rejected as impractical, and instead was turned into smaller attacks against cities in the communications zone of the Eastern Front. -
VE Day
German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms.Great Britain and the United States celebrate victory in Europe day. This is called VE day because it stood for Victory in Europe day. In Prague Germans surrendered to their Soviets after they had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans considerably more. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass departure to the west when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended, but were stopped by the Russians and taken captive. -
Dropping the atomic bombs
The United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime. They dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II, although many believe it was the Cold War. The United States had been working on developing an atomic weapon since the 1940s. Approximately 80,000 people are killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured after the bombing of Hiroshima. -
VJ Day
It was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. September 2, 1945, when Japan’s formal surrender took place aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. Harry Truman stated “This is the day we have been waiting for since Pearl Harbor. This is the day when Fascism finally dies, as we always knew it would.”
